Late yesterday, the U.S. District Court in Wyoming issued a ruling in our lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Wyoming. Judge Nancy Freudenthal found that the agency had indeed violated federal law by proceeding with the removal of 1,263 wild horses from the Wyoming Checkerboard without conducting an analysis of the environmental impacts or alternatives to the proposed action. Unfortunately, this was only one of our three claims, and the court ruled against us on the fact that the BLM is illegally managing these wild horse populations below the agency's own mandated management levels. The court also allowed the BLM to wrongly manage public lands in the Checkerboard as though they were private. The ruling came less than 24 hours after a hearing on Monday at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, in which our attorney, William Eubanks of Meyer, Glitzenstein & Crystal expertly outlined for the court the BLM's numerous legal violations. We've been battling for the wild horses of the Wyoming Checkerboard for more than two years, and we intend to continue the fight. Please read more about this developing situation here.

This is huge! After more than two years of working to secure a humane management agreement for the state-managed horses of the Virginia Range in Nevada, today the Nevada Board of Agriculture approved the largest ever public/private partnership that will benefit wild horses! The management agreement with Return to Freedom/AWHPC will enable local participating wild horse advocacy organizations to take measures to prevent the capture and removal of horses from the wild while at the same time protect public safety. Keeping wild horses out of neighborhoods and roadways is key to keeping these historic horses in the wild. As we await the official signing of the agreement and establishment of protocols, we are gearing up for the largest endeavor of its kind. Please help support and be a part of this precedent-setting model program to Keep Wild Horses Wild. To read more please click here.

Photo by Bo Rodriguez.

ACTION

Support Humane Management Plan for Utah Wild Horses

There are just two more days to submit comments! The wild horses of the Onaqui Mountain HMA, located south of Salt Lake City, Utah, have been the target of numerous roundups over the years and hundreds of horses have been removed from their homes on the public lands in this area. Now the BLM is proposing to change course and by fully implementing use of the PZP birth control vaccine to reduce any need to remove Onaqui horses from their homes on the range.

The BLM proposals for the Onaqui and Fish Creek HMAs indicate that the agency is slowly beginning to listen to the American public, which wants our wild horses to be wild and free! Please take a moment to support this plan that is both fiscally responsible and in line with National Academy of Sciences recommendations and public opinion.